"Update to Nash Appendix 3 Flags and Standards" Topic

Last bit. As usual, any comments welcome.

Appendix 3 Flags and Standards

Infantry Flags

General comment.
This is a complex topic and a clearer picture may be obtained by looking at all the references below. These contain colour pictures of the standards.

Page 91 Add to the end of the first paragraph
"The patterns of the pre 1806 flags that were reissued had often been established much earlier in the 18th century (1699 to 1740). It is likely that repairs were made through the 18th century and the embroidery reused." Refs 1 and 4.

Page 92 Third paragraph
Add the sentence below after sentence "The cross …….referred to as the field."
"The large iron cross was known as a Keleinkreuz (wedge cross) and the wavy cross as the Flammenkreuz (flame cross)."

Page 92 Flag staff colours. Add to list
"I and II/Nr.2 Pomeranian"
"I/Nr.8 Leib"
Remove
"I and II/Nr.11…….."
Add
"The I and II/Nr.5 had brown staffs"

Page 92 Add below the last paragraph.
"The pre 1807 flags were 140cm on the stave and 120cm on the fly. The later flags were 140cm square." Ref 2.

Page 94 Change
I/2 Westpreussisches IR.7 flag had a sky blue centre and white scroll
II/2 Westpreussisches IR.7 flag had a white centre

Page 95 Change
I/4 Ostpreussiches IR.5 flag had an orange centre with a white scroll
II/1 Westpreussisches IR.6 had a green centre with a white scroll

Page 94 and 95 changes from references 1 and 2.

Cavalry Flags

The information in this section comes from an excellent article by Dallas Gavan (ref 3).

Page 95 Add after the first sentence
"I.e. they were awarded either before or during the reign of Frederick the Great."

Page 95 Delete the second paragraph and replace with
"There were two basic patterns of flag-Standarten- square in shape and carried by Kuirassiers before 1806 and Fahnen- swallow tailed and carried by Dragoons before 1806. The details within the flags varied depending on in which reign they were awarded. The earlier ones (FWR type) had a smaller eagle flying towards the sun in the top right hand corner and FWR monograms. The later type (FR) had a larger eagle in the centre looking towards the left and FR monograms.

The Kuirassier standards were 50cm square and the dragoon 50cm on the staff by 65 com on the fly. The distance from the staff to the apex of the swallow tail was 50cm." (Refs 3 and 5)

Page 95 Add after paragraph 4
"Nr.1 Schlesisches Kuirassier Regiment. Kuirassier FWR type standard. The regiment inherited the standards of the old Wagenfeld Kürassier-Regiment Nr 4. The field was purple with a silver background to the central eagle and corner medallions. Embroidery was gold and the palm fronds green."

Page 95 Add after paragraph 5
"Nr.3 Garde de Corps Kuirassier Regiment. Standard as shown on page 96. FR type with FWR monograms. This was issued in 1798. Cloth was drap d'argent (white with silver threads woven in it) and with a silver centre.

Nr.4 Brandenburgisches Kuirassier Regiment. Kuirassier FR type standard formerly of von Quitzow Kürassier-Regiment Nr 6. Field was cornflower blue with the eagle's background in silver. Gold embroidery.
Nr.1 Koningin Dragoon Regiment. This was the Leibfahne (FWR type) of the old Dragoon Regiment Koningin. The field was white with a black background for the eagle and gold embroidery.
Nr.2 Erstes Westpreussisches Dragoon Regiment
Same as 2nd Kuirassiers."

Page 95 Add after paragraph 6
"Nr.4 Zweites Westpreussisches Dragoon Regiment. Same colouring as Nr.3 Regiment but FWR pattern. By an oversight, no standard was carried between 1811 and 1814."

Page 95 Add after paragraph 7
"Nr.6 Neumarkisches Dragoon Regiment. The standard of the old Dragoon Regiment Nr.3 was carried. FWR dragoon type with white field and the eagle background was cornflower blue. Embroidery was gold.

The 7th and 8th Dragoon Regiments were only granted flags after 1815. These were the same as the 3rd and 4th dragoons." (Ref 4)

References
1: Prussian Infantry Colors, R. Riehn, Campaigns Magazine in two parts, early 1970s
2: link
3: Prussian Cavalry Standards, D. Gavan, link
4: Creating a Napoleonic Wargames Army 1809-1815, P. Morbey
5: Prussian Cavalry Standards 1713 to 1815, R.Riehn, Campaigns Magazine in two parts, early 1970s

Just a couple of quick points, mate:

1. The oldest flags carried date from the reign of Friedrich Wilhelm, 1713 to 1740. These were all cavalry flags as all the infantry flags had been replaced by new flags by 1745. The reason the infantry flags were replaced, while most of the cavalry were not, is because the painted infantry flags were cheaper than the embroidered cavalry flags.

2. The eagle on the Leibfahne of the Königin Dragoner Regiment was gold, so that it would show against the black background of the centre device.

Cheers.

Thanks. I'll update the text.

One other thing I noticed. The pre-1807 infantry flags were generally square- ~140cm on the fly and on the staff (pike). There was one exception- the flags of the Grenadier Garde, which were the old FWR size of 150cm square, but those flags were all lost in 1806. However the surviving FR artefacts in the HGM in Vienna ( hgm.at ) and a surviving flag in the FdG Musseum in Kulmbach ( link ) vary in size by a few centimetres. I measured them while they were still in the display cases, so I couldn't be 100% accurate, but they were visibly square. Part of the variation is probably due to the cloth shrinking.

Cheers, mate.